New pastor finds new career as ‘shepherd’

Pastor David Fish, pictured with his dog “Pastor,” has been settling into new duties at the First Congregational Church.
Patricia Roy photo After a three-year search, the First Congregational Church of Rutland has a new pastor.

It’s his first parish assignment for Pastor David Fish, who graduated from Andover Newton Theological Seminary in December 2011, but you wouldn’t call him wet behind the ears.

Fish waited until he was 50 before he entered the seminary. He’s had grown-up careers, working for Smith & Wesson firearms manufacturers in Springfield and as a massage therapist and second level Reiki practitioner. He volunteered his skills in both those therapies for hospice patients in the western part of the state.

He was drawn to hospital work and did an internship at Overlook Masonic Health Care while attending seminary, working as a spiritual counselor.

Fish also worked as a patient transporter at Mercy Hospital in Springfield and took part in a program called “Companions for the Journey,” sitting with dying patients.

“I believe we honor the person by just being with them during the most sacred time of life, whether that person believes in God or just believes that life is going to be over,” he says. “The point was not to project my beliefs onto them.”

With his background of treating the needs of the sick, Fish thought he would continue as a hospital or hospice chaplain. He references the Book of Isaiah when talking about the switch to parish work.

“The Lord said, ‘Your ways are not my ways,’” he laughs.

Fish started talking to the church’s search committee in June; his was one of more than 100 applicants.

He is looking forward to focusing on parish duties, holding services, performing First Communions and baptisms and learning the nuts and bolts of the parish committee.

Fish confesses to sometimes being nervous speaking in front of groups.

“I was the youngest in my family and got the least chance to talk,” he jokes. “I just focus on this is not about me, this is about getting a message out.”

Fish grew up in Springfield in a mixedfaith household. His mother was a Roman Catholic and his father was Protestant.

When Fish was 13, his older brother, a college student who was considering the priesthood, was killed by a drunk driver.

The death devastated the family, and in its aftermath, Fish became drawn to the Protestant community because of how they responded to the family.

He remembers thinking, “I want to help people like that.”

But he realizes that parish work can take many forms. “Working with a community can mean helping at times like that, or it can mean just going to someone’s house when they’re sick and taking the garbage out.”

Fish says he enjoys it when somebody wants to interact about their spirituality.

“It’s wonderful to realize that God is vibrant today in your life as He is in scriptures,” he says.

Fish is taking the first month or two to settle in. He is living on Maple Street and he is looking forward to buying a house.

“People have been very hospitable and encouraging. Especially when they’ve gone from a pastor with a tremendous amount of experience to a newbie,” he says. “I feel like I stepped into a wonderful situation.”

Fish’s wife Ginny, who encouraged him in his late-blooming career as pastor, lives in West Springfield, where she is taking care of her mother.

He has an adult son, two stepsons and a four-year-old granddaughter.

He also has a friendly two-year-old German shepherd named “Pastor.”

The true translation of the word “pastor” means “shepherd,” he says. It’s a fun piece of word play from someone who has come to lead a human flock.

He expects people will see him around town with his dog, two shepherds walking together. If so, make sure to say hello.